If you’re like me, you’ve been wondering a bit what director Kathryn Bigelow would choose as her next film to make after Zero Dark Thirty. Well, it’s not the long in development Triple Frontier, but apparently she’s staying in the realm of American politics and the post 9/11 world, just going with a smaller scale. Reports have uber producer Megan Ellison buying the book True American: Murder & Mercy in Texas for Bigelow to direct, with Tom Hardy attached to star. It seems to be more of a drama than a thriller this time out for her, but I’m down for whatever she wants to tackle. You can see more below, but this seems like a movie that’s all set to be an awards player in a year or two, so keep it in mind. Maybe Hardy can even get his first nomination?

Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures has acquired the rights to the book “True American: Murder & Mercy in Texas” with Tom Hardy attached to star and Kathryn Bigelow on board to direct.

Pic is based on Anand Giridharadas book that tells the story the true story of Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a Bangladesh Air Force officer who dreams of immigrating to America and working in technology. But days after 9/11, an avowed “American terrorist” named Mark Stroman, seeking revenge, walks into the Dallas minimart where Bhuiyan has found temporary work and shoots him, maiming and nearly killing him.

W.W. Norton & Company is publishing the book.

Hardy has received rave reviews for his one man show in the A24 film “Locke” and has a handful of films set to bow this year including the Fox Searchlight pic “The Drop” and the Summit crime drama “Child 44.” He is also set to star as Elton John in the biopic “Rocket Man” and the New Regency pic “Splinter Cell.”

Bigelow last directed the Oscar nominated “Zero Dark Thirty” for Sony and Annapurna. She is repped by CAA and Hardy is repped by CAA and United Agents.

CAA also reps Bhuiyan and Giridharadas with Giridharadas repped on the publishing side by Kneerim Williams and Bloom.

When he’s not obsessing over new Oscar predictions on a weekly basis, Joey is seeing between 300 and 350 movies a year. He views the best in order to properly analyze the awards race/season each year, but he also watches the worst for reasons he mostly sums up as "so you all don't have to". In his spare time, you can usually find him complaining about the Jets or the Mets. Still, he lives and dies by film. Joey's a voting member of Indiewire's Criticwire Network as well as the Internet Film Critics Association.